Friday, August 7, 2015

Craters of the Moon

We were pretty excited to visit another volcano-related area, this time the Craters of the Moon National Monument. We had seen it on the map - it covers quite a large area in the middle of Idaho. What could that be, we asked? Craters? Related to the moon? It turns out to be a huge (over 50 miles long) lava field that has been used by astronauts training to go to the moon.

Well, that's pretty cool. A land of cinders! With our trailer parked in the middle of it:

We thoroughly enjoyed running through it and seeing different views every time we turned a corner.

Fun trails!

My silly smiling face:

The trail goes right across this flow:

And the stairs up the other side:

Not much growing in this landscape, just some stark trees:

Including one over the trail:

Heading up one of the craters:

View from the top:

Love the colorful craters:

Hey, it's John running uphill! Go John!

Little keyhole in the side of a spatter cone:

Stark landscape with a spatter cone (and trail leading up so you can look inside):

John's cousin Colin joined us for a couple days, cool! I spent the day biking around the park roads to the various trails while the guys met me at different places to explore everything.

Serpentine path through the lava:

A bit of pahoehoe up close:

Cinder blocks:

A "witches broom" effect due to some kind of parasite on the trees:

Tiny flowers somehow managing to survive on this stuff:

Colin and John descending from the Inferno Cone:

Me with spatter cones in the background:

Cinder pebbles everywhere (we swept a few out of the trailer each evening):

A bit of yellow in the middle of the black and red:

A tree mold - the outline of a tree that got overrun by lava:

The "big sink" area where there was a lava lake - that would have been cool to see when it happened:

Little blue flowers for a bit more color:

Another set of lava tree molds:

Funny cairn I found on the Wilderness Trail:

The crater at the end of the trail, and actual grass starting to take back over:

Fun in the caves with Colin! We found an "adventure route" that involved a bit of crawling, that was memorable, and Colin was a good sport:

More ridiculous volcanic landscape:

Not a normal bike ride:

Thank you to John for capturing a shot of the full moon at Craters of the Moon! He even set up his little scope so we could see actual "craters of the moon" that night. Too funny.